If Mike was prescribed any painkillers for his surgery, it's quite likely that he was unable to take his Lexapro at the same time (the interaction can cause internal bleeding.) Painkillers + no Lexapro + general post-op shittiness would certainly explain his behaviour here. I wouldn't read too much into it.
I think all the psychoanalysis about whether Mike is too much of a meanonator here is really beside the point.
The point is this game looks terrible. Sure, some people spent some time making this game. That doesn't make it worth playing. There are plenty of Indie Games that are excellent. But I think I recall once seeing a Jonathan Blow quote where he is upset that Indie Gamemakers are too nice to each other about their games. The act of creation and hard work isn't of any value in and of itself.
Sometimes your work is bad. Sometimes it looks bad. Sometimes it plays bad. This looks like both.
OK, I get the idea. It's a roguelike explorer but in an FPS context. It's a neat idea.
But sometimes execution matters more than novelty. It doesn't matter that the game has "soul" or that the creators are nice guys rather than Activision.
There is something to be said for some minimal level of polish. That may not mean having a multi-million dollar team spending infinite sums on assets. You can make a small game "see: Threes for iPhone/Android" that is excellent and crisp.
I identify with Jerry. I like seeking new games and get tired of seeing the same old stuff. But the idea that it's gauche to be irritated when a game is terrible is ridiculous. This game is bad. He says it's bad in a comical way. It leads to an interesting discussion about what people look for in games.
I guess what I'm saying is I got a lot more utility out of this episode than I did out of the game. And that's what Mike is so angry about.
Thanks to the amazing Humble Freedom Bundle I now own Tower of Guns, which has occupied a spot on my Steam wishlist for quite a while. So far, I think it's excellent.
As a counterpoint to the last poster, so far I just love it. It's basically a love-letter to early PC FPS - Quake in particular. It's hard, it gets harder. You're stuck in some industrial complex of confusing design and doubtful utility. You have to master the technical aspects of FPS twitch gameplay to excel. The inter-level load tidbits of text are funny, the items often reference past relics of PC gaming (33/66mHz Turbo Button!), and the couple easter eggs I've found so far point to a creator who invested himself heavily in the product.
Considering everything I've seen so far, I am not surprised they hated it. They were playing on a console, and control method fundamentally changes your experience of a game. I agree with Tube that if your game is available on a platform it should be fun to play on that platform. I'm not sure why the decision was made to release it for consoles, but I can understand a dev opting for a choice that exposes more people to your game.
I am a bit confused by M&J (and Josh)'s seeming determination to play all games on consoles with a controller. I have memories in the distant past of First15 where they switched input devices. And that time that Tycho showed off Atlas Reactor on a PC. It just seems a bit strange to play a game that so heavily draws on one gaming subculture (and accompanying skills) on a platform largely devoid of the things that the game references and relies on.
These problems are very similar to the First15 for Ziggurat, a game that during the first minute of that episode I added to my Steam wishlist. They're both FPS "roguelikes". One apes Quake, the other Heretic / Hexen. I think they're probably both great. And yeah, it would seem they're definitely not for Mike.
Posts
The point is this game looks terrible. Sure, some people spent some time making this game. That doesn't make it worth playing. There are plenty of Indie Games that are excellent. But I think I recall once seeing a Jonathan Blow quote where he is upset that Indie Gamemakers are too nice to each other about their games. The act of creation and hard work isn't of any value in and of itself.
Sometimes your work is bad. Sometimes it looks bad. Sometimes it plays bad. This looks like both.
OK, I get the idea. It's a roguelike explorer but in an FPS context. It's a neat idea.
But sometimes execution matters more than novelty. It doesn't matter that the game has "soul" or that the creators are nice guys rather than Activision.
There is something to be said for some minimal level of polish. That may not mean having a multi-million dollar team spending infinite sums on assets. You can make a small game "see: Threes for iPhone/Android" that is excellent and crisp.
I identify with Jerry. I like seeking new games and get tired of seeing the same old stuff. But the idea that it's gauche to be irritated when a game is terrible is ridiculous. This game is bad. He says it's bad in a comical way. It leads to an interesting discussion about what people look for in games.
I guess what I'm saying is I got a lot more utility out of this episode than I did out of the game. And that's what Mike is so angry about.
As a counterpoint to the last poster, so far I just love it. It's basically a love-letter to early PC FPS - Quake in particular. It's hard, it gets harder. You're stuck in some industrial complex of confusing design and doubtful utility. You have to master the technical aspects of FPS twitch gameplay to excel. The inter-level load tidbits of text are funny, the items often reference past relics of PC gaming (33/66mHz Turbo Button!), and the couple easter eggs I've found so far point to a creator who invested himself heavily in the product.
Considering everything I've seen so far, I am not surprised they hated it. They were playing on a console, and control method fundamentally changes your experience of a game. I agree with Tube that if your game is available on a platform it should be fun to play on that platform. I'm not sure why the decision was made to release it for consoles, but I can understand a dev opting for a choice that exposes more people to your game.
I am a bit confused by M&J (and Josh)'s seeming determination to play all games on consoles with a controller. I have memories in the distant past of First15 where they switched input devices. And that time that Tycho showed off Atlas Reactor on a PC. It just seems a bit strange to play a game that so heavily draws on one gaming subculture (and accompanying skills) on a platform largely devoid of the things that the game references and relies on.
These problems are very similar to the First15 for Ziggurat, a game that during the first minute of that episode I added to my Steam wishlist. They're both FPS "roguelikes". One apes Quake, the other Heretic / Hexen. I think they're probably both great. And yeah, it would seem they're definitely not for Mike.